News & Info

  Paints and coatings play a crucial role in the safety of our roads and highways. Road markings with excellent visibility are needed for driving under all conditions, but especially at night and in rainy conditions. Our latest article, “Road Markings and Traffic Paints – Making Roads and Highways Safer”, is now available in an exclusive 2-part online edition of CoatingsTech magazine. The science of road markings and traffic paints is discussed in part 1, and a roundtable Q&A with industry leaders is featured in part 2. In the Q&A, experts from Arkema, BASF, Dow, Kraton, and PPG discuss their thoughts on where the road marking industry is today, trends, challenges, new developments, the role of sustainability, and what to expect in the future. The article is available online at these links for Part 1 and Part 2.  

October 27, 2023

Paintology Coatings Research LLC had the opportunity to attend the American Coatings Association’s CoatingsTech Conference in Cleveland at the end of June. Lots of great presentations on the science of paint and coatings. Congratulations to the ACA and all of the speakers on facilitating a great conference. For a summary, see our latest article in the Sept/Oct 2023 issue of CoatingsTech magazine titled “Technical Highlights from the 2023 CoatingsTech Conference”. The highlighted presentations covered topics including some fascinating new technologies changing the paint application process, sustainability, thermosetting cure technologies, as well as the Matiello Award Lecture on the topic of coating durability, the plenary lecture on trends driving opportunities in the coatings industry, and the keynote lecture discussing the intersection of coatings technology and sustainability. The article is available online via this link:

September 14, 2023

 If you missed the Eastern Coatings Show in May, it was a great event with excellent technical presentations and a large exhibit hall filled with suppliers to the paint and coatings industry. For those interested in the most recent advances in coatings technology, check out my latest article in CoatingsTech magazine highlighting some of the technical presentations from the conference. The topics include the sustainability features of roof coatings and waterborne alkyds, challenges in doing emissions testing correctly, thermal insulation coatings, a new additive for anti-microbial coatings, corrosion inhibitors, associative cellulosic thickeners, and more. The exclusive online article is available at the following link. 

July 17, 2023

There are over 620,000 road and highway bridges in the United States.  Maintaining our bridges in good condition is critical for society, and coatings play a key role in protecting them from degradation, especially the prevention of corrosion for steel bridges. Our recent article titled "Bridge Coatings; Protecting our Infrastructure" is now available in an exclusive online edition of CoatingsTech magazine for May/June 2023.  We discuss the state of US bridges, and the historical and current types of coating systems.  In addition, a roundtable discussion with industry experts explores the challenges facing the bridge coating industry, the role of sustainability, new technologies, and their thoughts on the future of bridge painting.  The online article can be found at this link. 

May 30, 2023

Just returned from attending the 2023 Eastern Coatings Show this week at the Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City. There was a great line-up of technical presentations on May 17 and 18, along with a short course on May 16. The exhibit hall was quite large, with lots of suppliers to the coatings industry, and many opportunities to connect with industry colleagues. 

Please watch out for our upcoming article in a future issue of CoatingsTech magazine, in which we'll summarize some of the technical highlights presented during the conference.  

May 12, 2023

 Leo Procopio will present a webinar titled "Formulating Waterborne Direct-to-Metal (DTM) Coatings" for American Coatings Association members on February 23 at 1 PM (Eastern).  This free webinar will examine the basics of formulating waterborne coatings for applications over metal substrates. Starting with some corrosion fundamentals and  the role of coatings in preventing corrosion, the webinar will explore the types of waterborne direct-to-metal (DTM) coatings available for protecting metal surfaces, examples of formulations, and tips on choosing ingredients to optimize performance. Special emphasis will be placed on formulating techniques for waterborne acrylic DTMs, the largest category of waterborne DTM coatings.  ACA members can register for the webinar online at this link.

 January 27, 2023

  Those of us in the paint and coatings industry understand that watching paint dry is actually not as boring as it may sound. There is a tremendous amount of science behind the drying and curing of coating films. But what about watching paint weather, that has to be pretty dull, right?  Well, find out how interesting it really is in our recent article titled “Watching Paint Weather” in the August/September 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine. I had the opportunity to profile Dow’s paint and coating exposure program and talk to their experts at the Dow Exposure Station in Spring House, PA. Learn a little about how they advance the science of paint every day, and how they have expanded our understanding of coating durability, day by day, for the last 70 years. 

Here's a link to the article.

August 23, 2022

Part 2 of our article on waterborne direct-to-metal (DTM) coatings is now available in the August/September 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine.  This completes the roundtable discussion with industry experts, where they discuss remaining challenges for the technology, address misconceptions that are often associated with waterborne DTMs, and provide formulators with advice on how to maximize performance.  Thanks again to the industry experts from Alberdingk Boley, Angus, Arkema, BASF, BYK, Dow, EPS, Evonik, Heubach, ICL/Halox, Solvay and Specialty Polymers for their contributions to the article.  Click here to read the article. 

August 22, 2022

  Waterborne direct-to-metal (DTM) coatings are a key coatings technology in the fight against corrosion. In the July 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine, our latest article discusses some basics on how coatings prevent corrosion, along with concepts useful in the design and formulation of waterborne acrylic DTM coatings (click here to see the article). Part 1 of a two-part roundtable discussion with industry experts is also presented, and they discuss important trends, benefits and challenges, and new raw materials available for the formulation of waterborne DTM coatings. Many thanks to experts from Alberdingk Boley, Angus, Arkema, BASF, BYK, Dow, EPS, Evonik, Heubach, ICL/Halox, Solvay and Specialty Polymers for their contributions to the article. More of their thought-provoking comments will be in Part 2, due out in the Aug/Sept issue. 

July 7, 2022

  It was really great seeing many old friends and making new connections at the 2022 American Coatings Show last month. The science of paints and coatings was on impressive display both in the exhibit hall and the conference presentations. For a review of some highlights from the technical presentations, please see our latest article titled “Technical Highlights from the 2022 American Coatings Conference” in the May/June 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine. Here's a link, and be sure to check out the other great articles in the issue.

May 19, 2022

  Interior architectural coating will be an important topic discussed at the American Coatings Show this week. For some added perspective on this key coatings market, check out our new article “Current Trends in Interior Architectural Coatings” in the April 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine.  Here is a link to the article.  Industry experts from Behr, Farrell-Calhoun, Kelly-Moore and PPG weigh in on what’s new and now, how the pandemic affected the interior coatings market, and which trends are influencing product development and consumer aesthetic choices. 

April 4, 2022

  Our technical article on methods for controlling the rheology of paints and coatings has been reprinted in the March 2022 issue of China Coatings Journal (CCJ).  The article is titled “Additives to Control the Rheology of Paints and Coatings", and originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of CoatinsgTech magazine. It covers some of the basic principles of rheology and discusses the types of thickeners and rheology modifiers used in paints and coatings.  To access the article in the bilingual China Coatings Journal, click here.  The article has also been reprinted in the February 2022 issue of the Journal of Surface Coatings Australia from the Surface Coatings Association Australia (SCAA).

March 30, 2022

 Energy usage and conservation are obviously important issues for our environment and society, and paints and coatings have a role to play. Insulation materials help to regulate heat transfer and conserve the energy used to produce heat, not just in our homes but in many industrial processes. Thermal insulation coatings are a class of functional coatings that can replace traditional insulation in some applications. They can help with energy management, as well as protecting workers from contact with hot surfaces, condensation control, and can also be useful in applications where corrosion under insulation (CUI) is a concern. To learn more about the science of paint and thermal insulation coatings, check out this link to our article in the February 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine. 

March 3, 2022

Glad to be heading back to New Orleans next week for the 2022 edition of The Waterborne Symposium.  Leo Procopio will be teaching two sections of the "Reformulating to Waterborne Coatings" short course, organized and led by Professor Robson Storey of the University of Southern Mississippi.  The short course covers many aspects of formulating waterborne coatings and is a great introduction to the topic.

 Leo has been teaching sessions on Formulating Waterborne Acrylic Coatings and Application Methods for Waterborne Coatings since 2005.  For more info on The Waterborne Symposium, visit their website here.

February 14, 2022

  When it comes to your research efforts and the science of paint, sometimes your organization won’t have all of the equipment, expertise or time to take on an opportunity. That’s where external resources such as consultants or independent labs can help out. Click here for our latest article titled “Perspectives on Paint and Coatings Research from Independent Laboratories” in the January 2022 issue of CoatingsTech magazine, and hear directly from independent labs on their unique role in the industry, the types of problems they can help solve, and how to most effectively partner with them. Thanks to the experts at Marschall Labs, Wood Coatings Research Group, KTA Tator, The ChemQuest Group, Atlas Weathering Services Group, Q-Lab Test Services, Univar Solutions, and 1st Source Research for their valuable input. 

January 10, 2022

  The challenges of the past two years have affected many aspects of our society and global economy, and the Paint & Coatings industry is no stranger to the many difficulties posed by the pandemic, raw material shortages, and shipping bottlenecks. How did innovation and the science of paint hold up during this time? To hear the views of some industry leaders, follow this link to our new article “Innovation in the Paint and Coatings Industry during a Global Pandemic” in the Nov/Dec 2021 issue of CoatingsTech magazine. Technical and commercial leaders from Axalta, Carboline, Tnemec, BASF and Dow share their thoughts on the challenges of 2020/2021, how the industry responded and adapted, and how innovation was affected. 

December 7, 2021

Rheology is an important feature of paints and coatings, and affects their manufacture, storage, mixing, application and performance. Getting the rheology profile correct is critical to the success of any paint and coating. If you formulate paints and coatings, or are just interested in the science of paint, click here to check out our new article “Additives to Control the Rheology of Paints and Coatings’ in the October 2021 issue of CoatinsgTech magazine. It covers some of the basic principles of rheology and discusses the types of thickeners and rheology modifiers used in paints and coatings.  Also included is a roundtable Q&A featuring the excellent comments of industry experts from BASF, Dow, Elementis and Münzing.

October 14, 2021